Saviour, Jesus Christ, alone. And knowing that all this redemption, or salvation, is to be brought about in the inmost ground and depth of his heart, this makes him always apply to God as the God of his heart, and therefore what he offers to God is his own heart, and this keeps him always spiritually alive, wholly employed and intent upon the true work of religion, the fitting and preparing his heart for all the operations of God's Holy Spirit upon it. And so he is a true inward Christian who, as our blessed Lord speaks, has the kingdom of God within him, where the state and habit of his heart continually, thankfully, worships the Father in spirit and in truth.-[Christian Regeneration, p. 56.] Now HIS HEART A WOW, though the light and comfort of this outward world COILED ROUND keeps even the worst of men from any constant, strong DEMON DIRE sensibility of that wrathful, fiery, dark, and self-tormenting nature that is the very essence of every fallen unregenerate soul, yet every man in the world has, more or less, frequent and strong intimations given him, that so it is with him in the inmost ground of his soul. How many inventions are some people forced to have recourse to in order to keep off a certain inward uneasiness which they are afraid of, and know not whence it comes? Alas, 'tis because there is a fallen spirit, a dark aching fire within them, which has never had its proper relief, and is trying to discover itself, and calling out for help at every cessation of worldly joy. Why are some people, when under heavy disappointments or some great worldly shame, at the very brink of distraction, unable to bear themselves, and desirous of death of any kind? 'Tis because worldly light and comforts no longer acting sweetly upon the blood, the soul is left to its own dark, fiery, raging nature, and would destroy the body at any rate, rather than continue under such a sensibility of its own wrathful, self-tormenting fire. Who has not at one time or other felt a sourness, a wrath, a selfishness, an envy, and a pride, which he could not tell what to c HIS WHOLE ESSENCE SHAT- UNSOUND do with or how to bear, rising up in him without his consent, THE HE condition in which I have represented our soul to be by the fall, a mere fire-breath of an hellish nature shewing itself in every man more or less by its fruits, by such eruptions and breakings forth of dark passions, but hiding itself under an outward appearance of good and a feigned civility or rectitude of manners, is what every man must be forced to own to be more or less in himself. For this is the state of every man's soul, because it has lost the birth of the Son of God in it, and so is only as a strong root of a fiery life, unenlightened, and unblessed by that holy Word which is the brightness of the Father's glory. This dark root of a fiery, self-tormenting life, which is the whole nature of the fallen soul, destitute of the birth of the Son of God in it, is a life that subsists in four elements, as the life of this world hath its four elements. Now the four elements of this dark, fiery soul or fallen nature are : a restless selfishness, a restless envy, a restless pride, and a restless wrath or anger. I call them the elements of the fallen soul because they are that to it which the four elements of this world are to the life of the body. Now these four elements which nourish and keep up the life of the fallen soul are also the four elements of hell in which the devils dwell; they can no more depart from, or exist out of, these elements than an earthly life can depart from or exist without the four elements of this world, fire, air, water, and earth. Could we see, as we see outward objects, what a dreadful misery these four elements bring upon our souls, we should shun and fly from everything that gave life and strength to them with more earnestness than from the most violent evils that could threaten our bodies. We should choose to burn in any fire rather than in that of our own wrath and pride; any poverty of outward life rather than that of our own pinching envy; any prison rather than to be shut up in our own dark selfishness. For all outward fires, chains, torments, slaveries, poverties, are but transient shadows of the tormenting, fiery, dark slavery of an unredeemed soul left and given up to these four elements of hell. And the reason why they are not a hell to profligate men now upon earth is, as has been said, because we now live in flesh and blood under the cheering influences of the sun, and the diversion and amusement of outward things, and in several forms of happiness which our imaginations play with in time. This wandering of the imagination through its own inventions of delight hinders the poor soul from feeling what it is, in its own nature, and therefore though ever so much a slave of these elements, it only feels or perceives the torment of them by fits and on certain occasions. And yet sometimes it is seen that one or other of these elements awakens so violently as to become intolerable, and to give a true and plain foretaste of the condition and nature of hell in the soul that feels it. Here again, I cannot help observing, by the bye, the wondrous excellence and divine nature of the gospel religion, which knowing our fall to consist in this darkened fire of the soul dwelling in these elements of hell, has set before us such amazing representations of humility, meekness, and universal love, as the imagination of man could never have thought of, namely, the humility, meekness, and lowliness of the Son of God, who left His glory to take upon Him the form of a servant for our sakes; the great love of God towards us sinners in giving His only begotten Son to redeem us, and the love of God the Son in laying His life down for us, that we might imitate this amazing humility, meekness, and divine love, and love one another as He has loved us. These are mysteries of love and mercy that are set before us to quench the fiery wrath of our fallen nature, and to compel us, if possible, to abhor our own dark passions, and in humility and meekness become lovers of God and one another.-[Christian Regeneration, p. 35.] Now, THE WRATH OF GOD OW, after these two falls of two orders of creatures, the Deity FURY IS NOT itself came to have new and strange names, new and IN ME unheard-of tempers and inclinations of wrath, fury, and vengeance ascribed to it. I call them new because they began at the fall; I call them strange because they were foreign to the Deity, and could not belong to God in Himself. Thus God is in the Scriptures said to be a Consuming Fire. But to whom? To the fallen angels and to lost souls. But why and how is He so to them? It is because those creatures have lost all that they had from God but fire, and therefore God can only be found and manifested in them as a Consuming Fire. Now, is it not justly said that God, Who is nothing but Infinite Love, is yet in such creatures only a Consuming Fire, and that though God be nothing but Love, yet they are under the wrath and vengeance of God, because they have only that fire in them which is broken off from the light and love of God, and so can know or feel nothing of God but His fire in them? As creatures they can have no life but what they have in and from God, and therefore that wrathful life which they have is truly said to be a wrath of God upon them. And yet it is as strictly true that there is no wrath in God Himself, that He is not changed in His temper towards the creatures, that He does not cease to be one and the same Infinite Fountain of Goodness, infinitely flowing forth in the riches of His Love upon all and every life. But the creatures have changed their state in nature, and so the God of nature can only be manifested in and to them according to their own state in nature. And this is the true ground of rightly under |